Undeserved
by newvagabond
Summary: Takes place during the episode "Rock Bottom". Instead of stumbling upon Megatron about to murder Starscream, Arcee and Jack find the Decepticon being raped, which isn't immediately clear to Jack because he obviously doesn't know anything about how that works with Cybertronians.


**A/N:** Okay, wow. So this is my very first Transformers fic of any kind. TFP universe, obviously. **Warning for rape.**

Takes place during the episode "Rock Bottom". Instead of stumbling upon Megatron about to murder Starscream, Arcee and Jack find the Decepticon being raped, which isn't immediately clear to Jack because he obviously doesn't know anything about how that works with Cybertronians. This wasn't supposed to be Jack-centric or even human-centric at all but then I realized Jack's mom has probably had to deal with fair share of rape victims at the hospital and that though Jack's learned a lot about Cybertronians and their culture and the way things work, he hadn't ever considered that a race of alien robots would have something akin to rape.

So in short, this turned out kinda sad and thoughtful and Prime has some stuff to say and grhhgr.

* * *

At this point, Jack considered himself to be pretty well-adjusted. The fact that he was part of a team of alien robots no longer kept him awake at night. There had been some trouble in the beginning as well, as he tried to reconcile it all, but at least now he wasn't regularly freaked out. Comrades wounded, lost energon, offlined optics. It would never be easy, but it wasn't like in the beginning.

So he felt prepared for anything. Nothing could shock or confuse him now. He'd learned all he could about how mechs fight, communicate, heal, everything.

Which is why he was happy to tag along that day. Old Decepticon mine? Of course he wanted to see. Eeeeven if it was really because Miko suddenly abandoned her upset over missing a concert in place of possible energon deposits,_ no way, coooool_. He'd thank Arcee later for letting him check it out, even if she thought it was unsafe.

It sure looked stripped. Not that he really knew what he was looking for anyway. But it was nice just to walk along and look around. He made sure to stay ahead of his partner enough that she wouldn't have to slow to avoid stepping on him.

He continued forward, not seeing the archway until he heard a sudden mash of metal and—He froze. In the mine clearance were old drills, some dark boulders here and there. And the two Decepticons they usually tried to avoid.

Megatron's clawed digits were already soaked in energon, buried deep into Starscream's chassis at his middle. Faceplate smashed painfully into wall, pointed pedes flailed and scraped desperately for purchase, but he was held high and yards from the ground.

Starscream ventilated rapidly and when he once more tried to twist in the grip, there was another screech of metal as Megatron thrust him into the wall, tightening his hold, something snapping and energon spilling brightly down his prey's legs to pool beneath them.

"Mas-st-ster, give me another ch-chance." The Seeker's vocalizer was clearly damaged, staticky, rough.

"You have ceased to be of use to me, Starscream," Megatron replied coolly, and his wrists twitched and suddenly the Decepticon in his hold arched and a rush of static escaped his throat not unlike a cry.

Arcee had barely registered the vocals before Jack had stepped into the archway, and when she realized the situation, and realized Jack was _seeing_ it—"Jack." The human was yanked back, out of view, and into Arcee's hands. She set him down and looked visibly distressed. "Don't. You shouldn't... let's go. Quietly."

"What's he—he's killing him, right? Is that why he's—"

Another screech erupted and Megatron's heavy ventilations made Arcee's optics go frantic. "Jack. I don't know if humans have this sort of thing, but..." She could hear Megatron's cooling fans whirring and whirring, and her mouthplate thinned grimly. Disgusting slagger.

'This sort of thing?' Despite his better judgement and her words, Jack slipped to the edge of the opening moved just enough to let one eye see. Starscream wailed and grasped tragically now, electricity sparking from both mech bodies. Megatron's grin. This wasn't a skirmish. This wasn't blasters and missiles and landing punches. Jack held his breath.

"What, you mean..." Jack turned back to the Autobot. "He's...?" He couldn't even get the word out. He thought of his mom. Mrs. Darby had come home late more than once, tearful, holding Jack tight. Another victim. She usually stayed with them for awhile. Referred clinics for therapy. Held their hand as they stared into empty space. Helped the bad ones, limping, to the restroom, biting her lip when she had to examine them and run tests for STI's and STD's. She couldn't test or treat for the other damage, though. Sure, some sedatives might help with the anxiety. But they were never the same.

Jack looked up at his partner. "We have to..."

"No," she said, still crouched, still keeping her optics shut and wanting to cover her audials.

"Arcee. We do have this sort of thing. No one deserves it. Not even a Decepticon."

The 'bot's optical ridges yielded and she regarded him silently. After a moment she released her blaster onto her arm and nodded. "Stay out of sight." Quick on her pedes, she slid past the archway, weapon pointed.

"Megatron." The clash of air vents, fans, scraping, and sparkling electricity was loud and so she made sure to up the volume on her vocalizer. Her chemoreceptors were slammed with ozone and energon, and knowing the circumstances she pushed them from her senses. "Drop him."

The large 'con, spikes and all, turned to regard her, claws still ripping into Starscream's afterburners, other clamped around very private, very sensitive cables. "What's this?" Megatron laughed, releasing one hand to clamp it around his prey's neck cables. "Don't tell me this is pity for an enemy."

Starscream barely had time to turn his helm and see Arcee out of a flickering red optic before he was dropped ungently. Blasters went off overhead and he scrambled painfully to another wall. The shaking around them was unmistakeable.

Jack was unable to remain in hiding and ran out, avoiding falling rocks. "Arcee, it's gonna collapse!"

She whipped her helm around in realization and fired another five at Megatron before rolling behind a column. He was smart enough to realize the dangers of caving in also and with a roar sent off a final blast before transforming and spiraling out into the corridors.

"Jack!" Arcee called out, everything quaking around them, and slid over him as everything came crashing down.

"Bulkhead! Bulkhead, do you read? Scrap. Still no good," Arcee swore as she pushed boulders off of herself, lifting Jack and placing him on clear ground. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Jack answered, trying to pick pebbles from his hair. Something sounded to their left and the human jumped.

Starscream emitted a grind of gears something like a groan, legs pinned beneath rock, clawing at dirt. When he realized who he was trapped in the cavern with he shrieked and pointed his trajectile. Arcee was quick, though, and close enough to slam servos down. The missile fired off at the opposite wall and Jack hid under Arcee until the shaking stopped.

"Are you _glitched_? Do you want to bury us?" she shouted, not releasing his arm.

He was frantic, wing panel lights flickering red and left optic looking dangerously close to offlining. "If you hadn't come here—" he stared, vocals on the verge of screeching.

"—We saved you," she cut in, equaling his volume. He responded by retracting his arm forcefully from her grip and spluttering, ridges risen in a telling way.

"You s..." Another surge of rage erupted and he tried to claw at her, at Jack, but they both moved back. Pinned though his legs were, the energon spilling from his midsection was bright and cables hung out. When he realized this he turned violently towards the ground, clawed hand feebly covering his opened panel, glaring at nothing before him and dentals grinding. "I don't need pity from an Autobot." The words were spat, staticky, low.

Jack looked at Arcee with a sigh and carefully stepped around her leg into Starscream's view. "Maybe we should get the boulder off of him."

Starscream growled again, "Come near me, human, and I'll pick you from my claws."

Arcee rolled her optics up and steadied her pedes in the ground before lifting. Starscream started and watched as she moved the rocks off of his legs, blue energon reflecting off of her faceplate. She supressed a grimace. "Can you move?"

Starscream didn't answer but braced his shoulder plates and dragged forward, one leg moving noisily. Arcee reached forward to guide his stuck pedes and the Decepticon jumped back, wings slamming loudly into the wall, optics shrunken down.

"Fine," she resigned, showing her hands. "I won't touch. But your landers are bent, just so you know."

Glare faltering, Starscream looked back and sure enough, his ankles were loose and his pedes severely dented. Another growl and he slammed his fist down before mustering the strength to pull his body upright into a sitting position. He kept a hand over his panel still, ignoring the energon spilling from the telling claw-shaped punctures in his sides. His internal fans clicked and clicked, barely rotating.

Jack had been watching, mouth twisted. He didn't know how this worked with mechs. Obviously it wasn't the same with humans. And he doubted he had the balls to ask even if Starscream weren't sitting right there. But the 'con was clearly hurt, and the way he held onto the broken panel...

The three of them were quiet for a good while. Arcee would try every now and then to contact Bulkhead again, and walked around trying to find any thin spots she could blast through.

"You are staring, human," Starscream vocalized lowly. Jack jumped a little and turned his eyes away.

"Sorry, I just... you're sitting in a lot of energon."

Starscream shifted, tilting his helm despite the pain to his collar. "Oh? What do you know of our biology?"

Jack nodded to Arcee that he was okay from across the space, and turned back to the Decepticon. "Apparently not enough. But, are you...?" he trailed off, unsure of how to word this or if it were even a good idea.

Starscream's face planed inward in curiosity.

"Are you... okay?" Jack finally asked.

The 'con practically spluttered again, visibly taken aback by the question but once again it was overshadowed by a spike of anger and he struck the ground hard. "I'll repeat myself, I do not need pity from an Autobot, nor a—a vermin little fleshing such as yourself and if you two hadn't have come here, we wouldn't be—_aghk_!"

Arcee slammed in front of him, holding his servos tight. "Do—not—_touch me!" _his vocalizer Decepticon fought back, however weakly, and pushed her away only to scramble several yards away from them, bringing his legs up into his hold.

Arcee ex-vented slowly, and gave a weary half-smile to Jack before very slowly sitting down facing Starscream.

"For the record, I was going to leave. It was Jack who convinced me to help you," she said, sounding like she was trying to keep cool.

Starscream didn't look up. Didn't budge.

The Autobot rolled her optics again. "So be grateful. To Jack."

"I did not want your help."

"Seriously? What, you wanted Megatron to just—"

Starscream turned his optics on her fast, searing red, mouthplate barely visible as a pressed line. She backed down, taking in air, knowing it wasn't right to bring the details up, human child around or not. They got quiet again, and Jack made sure not to stare, however concerned he was.

A low rumbling made Arcee get to her feet and press an audial to the wall. Jack got up too. "Is it Bulkhead and Miko?" he asked. The rumbling turned to slamming. Yeah. Definitely Bulkhead.

"Bulk! In here! Here!" Arcee shouted, feeling along the wall to try pinpointing where the slamming was coming from.

"He was going to kill me," Starscream confessed suddenly, almost inaudible over the rumbling and banging of their teammate. Jack and Arcee turned slowly. "Afterward."

Jack lost his footing when a spray of rocks came, and Arcee swept him up before rolling back to the opposite wall.

"Found ya!" Bulkhead laughed, Miko dancing on his shoulder. "Whoa!" His fist transformed into weapon-mode at the sight of Starscream trying to stand up on the other end of the cavern.

"Bulk, it's fine," Arcee reassured. She turned in the Decepticon's direction."I can call for a medical kit."

"I would rather offline myself," Starscream spat back in a hiss of static, gripping edges and steadying his landers, which sparked in malfunction. No matter. Wiping energon from his claws, he bent down and jumped before spinning into aerial mode and jetting out noisily.

Jack sighed and didn't bother brushing debris from his hair this time.

Back at base, Arcee sat alone with a full cube. She'd poured it for herself over an hour ago but had forgotten, or lost her appetite. Jack made sure his footsteps were loud enough for her to pick up, and stepped up on her right slowly.

"You alright, Arcee?"

She offered a hand for him to climb on and smiled small. "I'm fine. You're still covered in dirt. Isn't your mom on her way?" She finally set the cube down.

"Working a little late," Jack replied, shrugging his shoulders. Arcee's ridges came down guiltily.

"Jack, look," she began. "I'm sorry about what you saw today. And I'm sorry I didn't want to help right away. It's... You were right. No one deserves that. Even if Starscream is an ungrateful, annoying pain in the aft... I'm glad we did something."

Jack smiled, though he was serious and silent for a minute. "I never even considered that it was something you guys had to deal with. It happens a lot here. They have support groups for it, specialists even. My mom's helped a lot of victims at the hospital. And she wishes she could do more than just treat their wounds and test them. She wishes she could make it go away. Erase it. Give them someone real to talk to. I wonder if..."

Arcee shook her helm slowly. "I know it's hard not to want to help, but Starscream is going to have to deal with this on his own." She actually doubted it was the first time the Decepticon had been raped. She held back a shudder at the thought and looked down at Jack.

"But I'm really proud of you."

"As am I, Jack Darby." Optimus Prime's distinctive vocals almost startled the two and they looked up as the looming Autobot stepped near. "You saw beyond sides, and recognized the situation for what it was. Not many would want to help."

Jack almost was embarrassed. Turned out talking about something like this was hard even with alien robots. "Oh, you heard," he said dumbly. Optimus put a hand on Arcee's dorsal plate with a nod.

"Yes. I am also sorry you had to witness it. It seems our two races have more in common than we realize. However fortunate your presence may have been for Starscream, Arcee is right. He will recover, and hopefully have his processors in the right place not to return to Megatron's side. It is all we can hope."

The bridge panels beeped a few times. i"This is June! Beam me in?"/i Jack hid hid face in humiliation. "Mom, it's a bridge, not a beam." He smiled and hopped down. "Thanks, Optimus. Arcee. See you guys tomorrow?"

"Night, kiddo," Arcee said as she activated the ground bridge.


End file.
